Burners for liquefied gas lighters



Dec. 26, 1961 c. ZELLWEGER BURNERS FOR LIQUEFIED GAS LIGHTERS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 24, 1959 Dec. 26, 1961 c. ZELLWEGER BURNERS FOR LIQUEFIED GAS LIGHTERS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 24, 1959 FIG. 3

FIG. 2

a v 2 a H 2} and 0Mfw ZELL WEGEQ United States PatentCfifice 3,@l4,357 Patented Dec. .26, 1961 3,014,357 BURNERS FOR LIQUEFIED GAS LIGHTERS Conrad Zellweger, Chene-Bougeries, Geneva, Switzerland,

assiguor to La Nationale S.A., Geneva, Switzerland, a

corporation of Switzerland Filed June 24, 1959, Ser. No. 822,624 Claims priority, application Switzerland July 11, 1958 4 Claims. (Cl. 67-7.1)

Burners are already known for liquefied gas lighters, comprising a body having a recess in which is mounted a movable part adapted to apply a pressure on a porous body, said latter being soaked with liquefied gas for conducting it to the burner, means being provided for displacing the said movable part in order to modify the pressure exerted on the porous body and thus permitting of adjusting the supply of gas to the burner.

The movements which must be effected by the movable part for obtaining an adjustment of the flame within the usual limits, for example for varying the height of the flame from mm. to 3 cm., are very weak. In some types of construction these movements are of the order of a few hundredths of millimeters. Consequently it is difficult to obtain an easy and progressive adjustment of the height of the flame and it is necesary to obtain a very high demultiplication between the manual control member acting on the movable part and said latter.

The present invention relates to a burner of simple cou struction and permitting of an easy and very progressive adjustment of the supply of gas. Said burner is characterised in that the movable part has a surface inclined rela tively to another surface of the body of the burner, at least one movable element, subjected to the action of an operating member, being placed between these two inclined surfaces and bearing against them in such a manner that a movement of the said element produces a movement of the movable part relatively to the body of the burner.

FIGS. 1 to 3 of the accompanying drawings show diagrammatically and by way of example, an axial section of three forms of construction of the burner according to the invention.

The burner shown in FIG. 1 comprises a substantially tubular shell 1 having a medial threaded shank portion 2 for screwing into a wall 3 of a reservoir of the liquefied gas lighter. -A joint 4 ensures fluidtightness between said wall 3 and the shell 1 of the burner. The shell 1 has a central recess 5 in which is mounted a movable tubular valve body 6 adapted to exert a pressure on a porous wick strip 7 constituted by a cotton wick. The said valve body has an external medially disposed flange presenting opposite faces, at least one of which is conical, as shown in all forms of the invention. The porous strip 7 is clamped between the lower end of the valve body 6 and an anvil member in the form of a ball 8 which is lodged in the bottom of the recess of the shell 1. A transverse bore permits of obtaining two opposed orifices 9 for the passage of the porous strip 7. The valve body 6 is provided, in the known manner, with an orifice 10 at its lower portion, disposed in such a manner as to be opposite the porous wick strip 7 so as to allow the liquefied gas soaking said latter to evaporate and to reach the upper part of the burner in the gaseous form. Thus, 7, '8 and 9 constitute fuel supply means for the orifice 10. The orifice it may be closed by the lower end of the valve stem 11 carrying an elastic pad 12 at its lower end and adapted to be pushed against the orifice 10 (position shown in the drawing) by a closure member, said latter being generally constituted by'the cover of the lighter. The fluid-tightness between the shell 1 and the movable valve body 6 is ensured by an elastic joint 13 lodged between two truncated surfaces 14 and 14a of the shell 1 and the movable valve body 6 respectively.

The upper part of the burner shell has a threaded bore 15 into which is screwed a main valve body operating member 16 having acentral bore 17 through which passes the upper end of the stem 11. The primary function of this operating member, or its counterpart, in all forms of the invention is to manually set the orifice 10 relative to the fuel feeding element 7 of the fuel supply means so as to determine the amount of fuel supplied to the burner and in that way control the height or size of the flame as set forth at the outset of the specification. The circular flanged edge 18 of the operating member l6 is fluted in such a manner as to be capable of being driven directly by hand or, preferably, by means of a circular part of larger diameter, of which the outer edge may be milled, and having a central iluted bore of corresponding shape. This part has not been shown in the drawing so as not to overload the latter.

The users operating member 16 is also provided with an inclined surface 19 constituting a portion of a cone coaxial to the axis of movement of the movable valve body 6 having a related surface 20 inclined relatively to another surface 21 of the shell 1 of the burner. The surfaces 20 and 21 are both portions of cones coaxial to the axis of movement of the movable valve body 6. A number of balls 22 are located along the circular track formed by the three surfaces 19, 20 and 21 in such a manner as to bear simultaneously against them.

The construction described permits of obtaining a very large demuitiplication between the axial movement of the valve body 6 and the operating member 16. It will be seen that when the latter is screwed into the threaded bore 15, the surface 19 moves downwards Whilst turning about the principal axis of the burner. This downward movement of the surface 19 has the effect of pushing the balls 22 towards the outside but as these latter bear against the surfaces 20 and 21, this displacement of the balls towards the outside is obligatorily accompanied by a downward movement of the movable valve body 6. It will be understood that it is possible to impart to the ratio of demultiplication, the desired value by acting on the respective inclination of the different surfaces 19, 29 and 21. The fiuidtight joint 13, by reason of its disposition, exerts on the valve body 6 a return force upwards. Further, the angle measuring the inclination of the bearing surfaces 20* and 21 of the balls 22 is suflicient to obtain a reversible transmission between the movement of the balls 22 and that of the movable part 6. In the case in which the movable elements are balls, it is necessary that the angle comprised between the surfaces 20 and 21 is at least twice as large as the angle of friction which exists for that of the surfaces which has the weakest coefficient of friction with the ball.

FIG. 2 relates to a modification of a burner of which the whole of the lower part is similar to that of the burner shown in FIG. l. There is again provided the burner shell 1 having a screw thread 2, a recess 5, two orifices 9 and a ball 8. In the recess 5 is located a movable valve body 6 of which the shape is slightly modified relatively to that in FIG. 1, a joint 13 being placed between said valve body and the shell 1 for ensuring fiuidtightness and applying at the same time a return force upwardly to the part 6. It will be seen that the upper face of the valve body 6 is a plane annular surface on which is disposed a circular row of balls 22. The upper part of the shell of the burner has a threaded bore 15 intowhich is screwed .a flanged ring nut 23 in the general shape of an empty cylinder, said nut having an internal thread 24 into which is screwed the operating member 16 of which the shape is practically the same as that of the member 16 according to FIG. 1. The lower face 25 of the ring nut 23 is annular and in the form of a portion of a cone, and as in the first form of construction, the operating member 16 has a part 19 in the form of a cone, said part being disposed in the interior of the row of balls 22 in such a manner as to come into contact with these and for pushing them radially towards the outside so that they penetrate between the plane annular surface of the movable part 6 and the annular face 25 of the cylindrical part 23 whilst spacing these two parts from one another.

In this last form of construction, it will be seen that there are available two possibilities for effecting the adjustment of the height of the flame of the burner by varying the distance between the movable part 6 and the ball 8. One of these possibilities consists in causing the cylindrical ring nut 23 to turn in such a manner that the axial movement of said part is transmitted directly by the balls 22 to the movable part 6. The second possibility consists in acting on the operating member 16 of which the function has already been explained. By suitably selecting the inclinations of the dififerent surfaces bearing against the balls 22, it is possible to obtain a very progressive adjustment when acting on the member 16 and a very rapid adjustment when acting on the cylindrical part 23. Further, this form of construction is very advantageous, as, by reason of the possibility of moving the part 23 axially over a relatively large distance, it is pos sible to provide very large machining tolerances for the different parts forming the burner.

FIG. 3 represents another form of construction in which the body 1 of the burner has radial holes 26 in each of which is located a pusher 27 of which the length is greater than the depth of the hole. In FIG. 3 a single hole and single pusher 27 have been shown, but in practice the burner should be provided with at least three, regularly distributed on a circumference. One end of the pusher 27 projects into the interior of the recess of the body 1 of the burner so as to bear on a surface 20 of the movable valve body 6. This surface 20 is disposed obliquely relatively to the direction of movement of each pusher. The other end of the latter projects exteriorly from the body 1 of the burner and bears against a surface 28 of the general shape of a portion of a cone which is provided in the interior of a ring 29 constituting an operating member. This ring has a threaded bore 30 which permits of screwing it on the corresponding thread of the body 1 of the burner.

In this form of construction the rod 11, which permits of closing the orifice provided in the movable valve body 6, is located completely in the interior of said part 6, said latter comprising at its upper part a closing member 31 forced into a recess 32 of the part 6 and adapted to cooperate with a shoulder 33 of the rod 11 so as to prevent the latter from leaving the recess provided in the valve body 6. From the foregoing it will now be seen that in all forms of the invention, the burner construction includes a shell having internal walls of different diameter connected by an intermediate inclined or oblique wall, and receiving a movable valve body having an orifice capable of pressing the wick strip 7 against the ball 8. The valve body 6 in all forms of the invention, has a central bore for receiving the valve stem 11, and, in addition, the outer surface of the valve body is provided with an intermediate offset flange portion whose bottom face is intended to engage the compressible yielding member 13 when the manually operated annular elements 16 of FIG- URES l and 2 and 29 of FIGURE 3 are turned on their threads 15, to produce relative axial movement between the valve body 6 and the Shell 1 through the medium of balls 22 in FIGURES 1 and 2, and also between the related surfaces of the manually manipulated members of FIGS. 1 and 2, or the push rods 16 of FIGURE 3.

It is to be observed that in the three forms of construction described, all the parts constituting the body of the burner were bodies of revolution and that the inclined surfaces 20 and 21 were concentric surfaces of revolution. Consequently there result considerable advantages from the point of view of fabrication, as all these parts 4 can be obtained by turning, for example on automatic lathes.

It will be understood that it is possible to provide other forms of construction of the subject of the invention and that, for example, the disposition of the porous body on which the movable part has to apply pressure, may be very different from the construction shown in the drawing. The movement of the movable part may also be provoked by a single movable element subjected to the action of an operating member and bearing against two surfaces inclined one relatively to the other, one of these surfaces being provided on the movable part and the other on the body of the burner. The movable element may have quite different shapes from those shown and, particularly, the shape of a wedge having two plane surfaces adapted to bear against the movable part and the body of the burner.

In the forms of construction according to FIGS. 1 and 2, the operating member 16 may also be screwed on to the movable part 6 and not into the body 1 of the burner. In this case, it is possible to provide parts cooperating between the movable part 6 and the body 1 so as to prevent a rotation of one of said parts relatively to the other.

I claim:

1. A liquefied gas burner, comprising in combination, a burner shell having an internal recess of larger diameter at its outer end than at its inner closed end, said diameters connected by an intermediate inclined wall portion, the side wall of said inner end having aligned transverse openings and said outer end of the recess internally threaded, a ball in the closed lower end of said recess, a wick strip disposed through said aligned openings and over said ball, a valve body having fiat top wall and an internal bore communicating with a valve orifice disposed to press said strip member toward and from the ball, said valve body also having a conical surface between its fiat top and lower end, resilient means between said conical portion of the valve body and the inclined portion of the recess of the burner body, a valve stem in said internal bore, a plurality of balls disposed on the fiat top of said valve body, a valve body regulating ring nut having internal and external threads, said external threads engaging the threads at the outer end of the body and the bottom face of the nut inclined outwardly and downwardly over said balls disposed on the top fiat face of the valve body, an annular flanged operating member surrounding the valve stem and having external threads engaging the internal threads of the ring nut, and an annular conical cam surface at the inner end of said operating member disposed adjacent the inner sides of said balls and upon axial movement relative thereto propelling said balls against the outwardly and downwardly inclined face of the said ring nut.

2. A burner for gaseous fluid lighters and the like, comprising, in combination, a burner shell having an internal recess of larger diameter at its outer end than at its closed inner end, the portions of different diameter of said recess connected by an intermediate inclined wall, external threads on the upper end of said shell, the wall of the portion of the shell of smaller diameter having transversely aligned openings, a ball supported in the lower end of said small diameter portion of the shell, a wick strip passing through said aligned openings, a valve body including an axial bore leading to an orifice adapted to engage the porous wick strip resting on the ball, said valve body having a medial enlarged portion provided with a fiat bottom face and a downwardly and outwardly inclined upper face, a resilient member clamped between said fiat bottom face and the inclined wall of the burner shell, a pusher member disposed radially of the burner shell for movement relative to the axis of the shell and the inner end of said pusher member engaging the said downwardly and outwardly inclined face of the valve body, and a regulating ring having internal threads engageable with the external threads on the burner shell, said regulating ring having a conical inner surface for engaging the outer end of the pusher member.

3. A liquefied gas-burner comprising, in combination, a burner shell having transverse registering openings in its lower end and also having internal walls of diflferent diameter communicating with each other about a common axis and connected by an intermediate inclined wall, a Wick strip disposed transversely of the shell, an anvil member disposed between said openings for supporting the wick strip, a valve body within and axially movable relative to the shell and also having an orifice engaging said wick strip with the anvil member, said valve body further having an axial bore, a valve stem in said bore, an intermediate flange on the outer portion of the valve body and having a lower face, a resilient member interposed between said face and said intermediate inclined wall of the burner shell, said flange also having an upper I of said resilient member, and means including an annular 20 manually operated control member having threaded engagement with the burner shell whereby relative rotation between said control member and said shell will cause the said movable means to impose pressure or release pressure from the resilient member as the orifice of the valve body is moved to or from the wick strip in relation to the anvil.

4. A burner for liquefied gas lighters comprising, a tubular shell having an internal inclined face, a hollow valve body in the shell having an orifice, fuel supplying means at the inner end of the shell, a flange on the intermediate portion of the valve body. and having an inclined face, a ball between the inclined faces respectively of the shell and flange, and an operating member axially movable in the shell and having a conical face engaging said ball, whereby, manual actuation of said operating member will move the orifice end of the said valve body relative to said fuel supply means to regulate the height of the burner flame.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,737,037 Zellweger Mar. 6, 1956 2,836,044 Zellweger May 27, 1958 2,895,318 Zellweger July 21, 1959 

